Negro, Niccolo (2025) Extrapolating other consciousnesses: the prospects and limits of analogical abduction. [Preprint]
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Abstract
Advances in animal sentience research, neural organoids, and artificial intelligence reinforce the relevance of justifying attributions of consciousness to non-standard systems. Clarifying the argumentative structure behind these attributions is important for evaluating their validity. This paper addresses this issue, concluding that analogical abduction – a form of reasoning combining analogical and abductive elements – is the strongest method for extrapolating consciousness from humans to non-standard systems. We argue that the argument from analogy and inference to the best explanation, individually taken, do not meet the criteria for successful extrapolations, while analogical abduction offers a promising approach despite limitations in current consciousness science.
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Item Type: | Preprint | ||||||
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Keywords: | Consciousness; Analogical Abduction; Other Minds; Inference to the best explanation; Consciousness Science | ||||||
Subjects: | Specific Sciences > Cognitive Science > Consciousness General Issues > Natural Kinds Specific Sciences > Neuroscience |
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Depositing User: | Dr. Niccolo Negro | ||||||
Date Deposited: | 04 Jun 2025 13:16 | ||||||
Last Modified: | 04 Jun 2025 13:16 | ||||||
Item ID: | 25557 | ||||||
Subjects: | Specific Sciences > Cognitive Science > Consciousness General Issues > Natural Kinds Specific Sciences > Neuroscience |
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Date: | 3 June 2025 | ||||||
URI: | https://philsci-archive.pitt.edu/id/eprint/25557 |
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